Suction mechanism for dental plates



J, LEHNER.

SUCTION MECHANISM FOR DENTAL PLATES. APPLICATIEJN FILED JUNE 17. I919.

1,852,614. Patented Sept. 14,1920.

WITNESSES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN minivan, or rmrrsnunerr, I 'ENNSYLVANIA.

SUCTION MECHANISM FOR DENTAL PLATES.

Application filed June 17, 1919. Serial No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN LEHNER, a citizen of the United States, and residing in the city of Pittsburgh, in the county of Alleuseful improvements in suction mechanism for dental plates.

Letters Patent of the United States, No.'

1,255,027, weregranted to me on January 29, 1918, and the present invention is-an improvement on the suction'mechanism therein described and claimed.

The object which I have in view is the provision of a suction mechanism, of the general type referred which will present improved suction action and which will remain firmly and completely anchored in the plate orifice until intentionally removed when worn out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure-l is a perspective view of a palatal dental plate provided with a pair of my improved suction cups; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same; Fig. is an enlarged perspective view of one of the cups shown dismounted; Fig. 4 is a side view of the same; Fig. 5 is an enlarged broken section taken along the line V-V in Fig. 1 showing the cup mounted in the dental plate; Fig. 6 is a plan view of the stiffening member which is embedded in the rubber of the peripheral flange of the cup; Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the male and female dies in which the cup is formed with the rubber and stiffening element in position for producing the cup; Fig. 8 is a face view of the female die, and Fig. 9 is a similar View of the male die.

The following is a detailed description of the drawings.

A is a palatal dental plate whose upper surface is molded to proper contour to fit as snugly as possible against the wearers palate. On either side of the medial lme ab in Fig. l of the drawings, I provide an aperture 1 extended entirely through the plate and preferably elongated from front to rear of the plate, as shown. These apertures may be conveniently formed by inserting in the plate, before the vulcaniza Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 14, 1920. 804,788.

tion of the soft rubber, small plates of airchamber metal of the proper thickness and perrmetral contour to form such apertures l with a slot 2 running around the walls of the apertures, as shown. When the dental plate has been vulcanized, the air-chamber metal is cut or drawn out of the apertures, leaving the same in proper form to receive the suction cups.

-In each of the apgertures 1 is mounted a rubber suction cup whose body is of soft rubber fitting said aperture with its open top turned upwardly. The soft rubber upper edge of the cup extends sufficiently above the top surface of the dental plate A to obtain a suction grip. on the wearers palate without having the effect of spacing the plate-away from the. palate. This suction effect is very much improved and is rendered entirely positive by the division of the interior of the cup by two or more trans verse ribs or walls 3 which extend from the inside bottom of the cup to the top edge of the same, thus, in effect dividing the cup into a plurality of suction chambers.

Thus in case the dental plate did not snugly fit against the palate, chewing might cause the plate to tip, thus possibly pulling some portion of the edge of the cup loose. from the palate, which would have the effect of breaking the partial vacuum and causing the cup to release from the palate. By providing the transverse ribs I completely insure against such loosening of the suction grip, since the protrusion of the perimetral edge of the cup B and the top edges of partitions 3 give each cup a plurality of suction grips, all of which must be broken before the attachment of the plate to the palate is affected to any appreciable degree.

The cups B are held in the apertures l by means of perimetral flanges 4 of the cups which are intermediate of the height of the cup walls and which are seated in and preferably cemented. in the slots 3. The cups B are of soft rubber so as to be flexible enough to engage and cling to the palate, but in my improved suction cups, I stiffen the flanges 4: by. incorporating in them a stiffening element 5, shown separate in Fig. 6. This element may be a piece of textile material cut to proper form, as shown, or may be of metal screening or a metal plate.

en the cup is formed, as by pressing between the male die C, Figs. 7 and 9, and i the female die D, Figs. 8 and 9, when the soft rubber cup blank 6 is placed in the female die the stiffening element 5 is placed in position on top of the rubber, as shown in Fig. 7 and after the forming operation is completed and the cup finished, the rubber of the flange 4; and the element 5 are incorporated inseparably together, making the flange 4 much stiffer than the body of the cup and preventing the cup being torn from its aperture in the plate by the force of its adherence to the palate.

In practice, I find that the cup should protrude about one-thirty-second of an inch above the plate and the bottom of the cup should protrude slightly below the under surface of the plate, so that the wearer can conveniently collapse the cup bottom with his tongue, when he inserts the plate against his palate, to obtain the suction grip.

Indeed the anchorage of the cup in its aperture is so much improved that I may omit the use of cement and rely on the stiffness of the flange to hold the cup in proper position.

From the foregoing it is quite evident that I have very materially improved my patented suction cup both in its gripping action on the palate and in its anchorage in the late.

hat I desire to claim is:

1. In combination with a dental plate of hard material having an aperture extending completely through the same and the wall of said aperture being provided with an inwardly extending perimetral slot, a soft rubber suction cup mounted in said aperture with its open top protruding from the surface of the dental plate and provided with a circumferential flange which engages said slot to anchor said cup in said dental plate, said flange being stiffened by the incorporation therein during the process of manufacturing the cup of metallic stiffening material, substantially as described.

2. As an article of manufacture, a suction cup of soft rubber for dental plates, provided with a closed bottom and an open top and having an encircling rib outwardly extending to anchor the cup in a dental plate, said rib being stiffened by the incorporation therein of metallic stiffening material, substantially as described.

Signed at Pittsburgh, Pa, this 14th day of June, 1919.

JOHN LEI-INER. 

